254 cases of human trafficking taken to court from January to June — Ahmad Zahid
PUTRAJAYA: A tot al of 2 54 cases of human trafficking were taken to c ourt u p to J une with 67 convictions obtained, sai d Deputy P rime Mi nister D atuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Home Minister, said of the total convictions, 43 involved human trafficking offences while 24 other offences had human trafficking elements.
“For the period January up to May 2017, the number of arrests recorded w as 3 63,” h e said in a st atement a fter ch airing t he Highest-Level Committee ( HLC) on Anti-Human Trafficking and Anti-Human Smuggling and AntiSmuggling of Migrants ( MAPO) at Perdana Putra, here yesterday.
The meeting was also attended by the United States Ambassador to Malaysia, K amala Shirin Lakhdir.
At the meeting, Ahmad Zahid handed o ver a f und totaling RM1.38 m illion to the Go od Shepherd Welfare C entre a nd Tenaganita Sdn Bhd as the pioneer project f or t he m anagement of human trafficking victims.
Ahmad Z ahid s aid t he government h ad de clared three protection h omes f or victims of human trafficking in Sabah, Selangor and Penang in implementing the collaboration between t he g overnment a nd non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“The government sees the involvement of NGOs in th e management of human trafficking victims as a positive development and should be continued to ensure the w elfare of victims c ould continue to be preserved and the responsibility co uld be s hared together,” h e sai d, a dding t hat it was in line with the national commitment to implement t he Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti- Smuggling o f Mig rants (ATIPSOM) Act 2007 which came into effect-fully in November 2015.
T he depu ty pr ime m inister said th e m eeting f ocused o n the achievement of the country in th e A nnual R eport o f th e State Department of the United States on human trafficking and improvement measures for evaluation for t he n ext y ear of assessment.
According to the report by the US State Department issued on June 27, Malaysia was at Level 2, which was better than the Level 2 (Observation) in 2016.
Ahmad Z ahid sai d Ma laysia was on Level 2 ( Observation) on eight occasions as it did not show a significant rise in efforts t o check human trafficking crimes compared to the previous years.
However, the country’s position rose to Level 2 this year due to the implementation of significant efforts to comply with the United Nations Convention agai nst Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and Trafficking Victim Protection Act 2000 ( TVPA), he said.
“This w as t he r esult of t he strong commitment and consistent efforts demonstrated by members of t he H LC MAPO i n boos ting investigation, p rosecution a nd conviction on human trafficking cases i ncluding s everal improvements in the a spect of victim protection,” h e sai d.